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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128163
35th Annual Ford Mammoth Mountain Motocrossa VET PRO By STEVE COX PHOTOS BY RYAN MAHONEY/ PHOTOCROSS.NET MAMMOTH LAKES, CA, JUNE 27·30 was no doubt in anyone's mind all weekend at the 35th annual Ford Mammoth Motocross as to who was the favorite to win. Bud Light/Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath, in the three classes he raced, was challenged a couple of times, but he always seemed to have a big lead by race's end - somehow. In the Vet Pro event, he was challenged for most of the first moto by Yamaha/White Bros./Dr.D-backed Doug Dubach, only for Dubach to fall and let him walk away with a comfortable victory. Suzuki's Evan Laughridge gave him a tussle in the 125cc main, but just for a couple of laps, as McGrath put his head down and pulled away for the win. Pit pundits figured his biggest challenge would come on Sunday, when SoBe Suzuki's Sean Hamblin became a surprise entrant in the 250cc Pro event. Many thought that Hamblin, having more recent outdoor experience, might be the guy to beat him. McGrath heard the rumblings about Hamblin ruining his perfect weekend, and he would have none of it. McGrath got the holeshot in the race and just plain left. From lap two Ejj:I here U 24 JULY 17, 2002' cue • e on, nobody on the lead lap got as much as a glimpse of the 30-year-old superstar. McGrath won every moto he entered, leaving Dubach his figurative table scraps when he decided not to ride the Open Pro event. "I don't want to race four days in a row, and I like my 250," McGrath said about why he wouldn't go for the Mammoth Grand Slam (Vet Pro, 125cc Pro, 250cc Pro and Open Pro). ''I'll ride a 250F on Sat- (Top) Jeremy McGrath raced and won six motos at the 35th annual Ford Mammoth Motocross. . (Right) Doug Dubach was the only man besides McGrath to win a Pro event (excluding the Senior Pro division). winning the Open Pro class. n _ VV s urday. You can't ride a stock 426 against Doug. I'd get my butt kicked, so there's no sense in that, you know?" Whether or not Dubach would have kicked McGrath's butt may be debatable, but Dubach did away with the Open Pro competition nonetheless becoming the only non-McGrath Proclass winner over the four days of racing (excluding the Senior Pro class, which not even Dubach can quite qualify to race just yet). The four-day weekend got started with Thursday's Vet racing, and McGrath established himself early on as the man to beat. He grabbed the holeshot in moto one and seemed to be pulling away when Dubach suddenly began reeling him back in. "He [McGrath] pulled out a little, and I caught him a little, then he pulled away a little, and then I caught him a little," Dubach said. Dubach hung on McGrath's tail, well ahead of third· placed Ty Davis, for most of the moto, but McGrath didn't budge. It turns out that Dubach was destined to make the first mistake. "We were actually very close to one another on lap seven, and I fell down in the corner right before the finish line," said a somewhat dejected Dubach. "I couldn't find neutral, so it was a little hard to get it started. I finally got it going and just got third. Jeremy and I were quite a ways ahead, but Ty got around me before I could get my bike started." McGrath ended up with a comfortable victory, and his dice with Dubach would end up being his longest, hardest battle of the entire weekend. Montclair Yamaha's Davis finished a distant second, while Dubach had to shake off Rich Taylor for third . which meant that, in order for him to win the overall, McGrath would likely need to finish third or worse in the second moto, and that seemed unlikely.